Landscaping-blog asked:


Landscaping has often been likened to the painting of a picture. Your art-work teacher has doubtless told you that a good picture should have a point of chief interest, and the rest of the points simply go to make more beautiful the central idea, or to form a fine setting for it. So in landscaping there must be in the gardener’s mind a picture of what he desires the whole to be when he completes his landscaping project.

Should you include lots of bare open lawn in your landscaping theme? A large extent of open lusious green lawn space is always beautiful. It is restful.

This type of open landscaping adds a feeling of space to even small grounds. If you cover your lawn space with many trees, with little flower beds here and there, the general effect is choppy and fussy. A bit like an over-dressed person. Not the most visual appealing result from your landscaping efforts.

When landscaping, a single tree or a small group is not a bad arrangement on the lawn. Do not centre the tree or trees. Let them drop a bit into the background. Make a pleasing side feature of them. In choosing trees for your landscaping project, keep in mind a number of things. You should not choose an overpowering tree. The tree should have a good shape, with something interesting about its bark, leaves, flowers or fruit.

For the beauty of landscaping, the catalpa is quite lovely by itself. Its leaves are broad, its flowers attractive, the seed pods which cling to the tree until way into the winter, add a bit of picturesqueness. The bright berries of the ash, the brilliant foliage of the sugar maple, the blossoms of the tulip tree, the bark of the white birch, and the leaves of the copper beech all these are beauty points to consider when planning your overall landscaping arrangement.

Landscaping may follow along very formal lines or along informal lines. The first would have straight paths, straight rows in stiff beds, everything, as the name tells, perfectly formal. The other method is, of course, the exact opposite. You should consider the advantages and danger points in each.

In conclusion, plan for open lawn spaces in your overall landscaping design and keep a visually appealing tree to blend in the background. Think balance and you will come up with a beautiful landscaping design for your yard.

Tagg Hamilton asked:


According to the Bureau of Census Service Annual Survey , the lawn care and landscape business is a $46.8 billion industry in 2006. Each year, people spend that much on landscaping services. Over the last 10 years, the industry has grown considerably. The beauty of the landscaping industry is that virtually anyone can do it. No prior business knowledge is required. I know high school students that make $12,000 or more in the summer. I believe that anyone can make at least $20,000 landscaping. Great landscapers earn over $100,000 a year. What the industry offers is an easy to start business opportunity. Most aspects of the business are already taken care of and all you have to do is follow the steps that I outline in this business kit. It is an extremely simple operation to learn and apply. You can do it. Yes, you.

Landscaping is a solution to the dull 9-5 job. This business lets you be your own boss, work for yourself, and determine your own schedule. With over 7 years of industry experience, I have created a realistic business opportunity that has proved to be a success with anyone who takes the principles and applies them.

The downside of the lawn care and landscaping business is that it is highly seasonal. Your location can spell a huge difference in the potential success of your business. The demand in Florida is higher than the demand in Maine or Michigan or in other states that remain buried in snow for a longer period of time.

I have been in this business for over seven years. I saw it when it was small and have seen it grow exponentially! According to several sources, the landscaping industry has had an amazing 1000% increase in growth over the last 10 years! Also, residential homeowners as well as commercial and professional business owners spend over a billion dollars each season for this service and its associated products. And, with the landscaping industry being so versatile, this quite possibly will be the perfect ‘add-on’ service to your existing business. It is also the perfect business that can earn you enough in 8 months so you can either take the rest of the year off or run another seasonal business during the other 4 months of the year.

As a general rule, the landscaping season begins in Spring focusing mainly on commercial properties. This is when you will start to look for leads and begin your work. The season ends in mid to late fall when the grass has stopped growing at your clients’ homes and businesses.

Landscaping businesses can make more than $500 per day per work crew during the season. Well-organized installation crews can make more that $1000 per day. It is also not uncommon for landscapers to earn upwards of $1500 in a single day when doing work on larger residential and commercial jobs. I recently managed to get a landscaping contract with a local church. The quote I gave was for $1300. My equipment costs were minimal and I paid my 2 employees $120 each. Do the math. At the end of the job, I had over $1000 cash profit in my back pocket and a huge smile on my face!

A smaller landscaping business can easily expect to earn more than $20,000 in their first year as long as they have a solid business plan. Try to begin with the end in mind. I know of many mid size landscaping companies that make between 100 and 150 thousand dollars each year - between Spring and Autumn! There is a ton of money to be made in this industry. You are providing an essential service that people will use month after month and year after year.

The landscaping industry is the perfect add-on for seasonal businesses like, Christmas Light Installers, construction workers, window cleaners, junk removal services, painters, roofers, and framers. The main thing that attracted me to this industry is the fact that this business is extremely low risk. I have been able to use my current client database to create leads and get contracts. In the winter, I run a Christmas Light Installation business and have been able to keep my employees during this season whereas in past years, I had to lay them off and often they never came back because they found other work! This business changed that!

The landscaping industry is one of the fastest growing service industries in the United States, Canada, and the UK! Each year, the demand for this service increases. For some reason everyone wants to have a better looking lawn than their neighbors. In a recent study, it was shown that the thing that people despised most about owning a home is the pain of lawncare. People want a beautiful looking property without the hassle of mowing their own lawn. This is where you come in and cash out!

This wonderful business opportunity is now more popular than ever and you are a part of it! The biggest benefit you have is that you are starting now. It’s here and you got in on the ground floor at the beginning. That means there is a ton of room for growth. There is also room for small business owners, like you, to make a ton of money in a short period of time. It’s going to be some work, but once you get rolling, you are going to look back and think that taking the first step was the best decision you could have ever made.

One reason for the growing demand of this service is the growth of two income families. The increasing number of double-income families means the number of people with no time but has money on hand is increasing. In fact, according to a nationwide survey conducted by International Communications Research for the Bayer Lawn Care Institute, “the average homeowner spends nearly eight hours each week on lawn care and landscaping tasks around their home and would consider hiring a professional service in order to acquire more free time.”

The target market of the lawn care and landscaping businesses are homeowners with larger size lawns. Larger lawns, such as with 4,000 – 7,000 square feet, typically yield better margins when factors such as transportation time and costs are considered. The typical target market also include middle class suburban families with large lawns and no teenage children, as teenagers are likely to be tasked to mow and take care of the lawns. Middle-aged homemakers are also more likely to rely on a lawn service compared to younger homemakers who are more likely to do the lawn themselves.

Lawn care services can be residential or commercial. Residential lawn care services typically include lawn cutting, trimming, edging and removal of clippings. The service is typically offered once a week through the frequency can depend on the customer’s requests. This side of the business is made up of many small companies. This occurs because of high labor intensity, low startup costs, and nature of the industry.

The commercial side consists of apartment complexes, business parks, and common areas of subdivisions, schools and others. The commercial side is typically serviced by larger lawn care landscaping services.

In this industry, you are simply selling a service that includes the landscaping duties on homes and businesses. Can it get any easier than that?

The difference that you make in this business is how you choose to sell your services. Many landscaping companies differ in how they sell their service. Some companies only sell the landscaping service requiring customers to provide the tools and materials while others provide the work with no warranty. Other full-service companies offer to provide the landscaping, do the gardening, and give a warranty.

I have found that the service that works best is one that combines all these variables together. I have built my business model on this principle. It is a model that that provides the landscaping service to the customer, I supply all the tools and the lawnmowers, and I offer a warranty.

Bill Dittman asked:


High quality landscaping can add so much to a home or business, especially when the landscaping brings color and creativity to the forefront. When a homeowner or business owner takes the next step and adds landscape lighting, the result has the potential to be phenomenal.

Landscape lighting really enhances attractive landscaping, and can make ordinary landscaping stand out and turn into attractive landscaping. Adding landscaping isn’t necessarily all that difficult or even terribly costly, but the curb appeal which good lighting adds is undeniable.

Adding lighting can even enhance winter landscapes, accentuating trees, bushes, and even ornaments that really add to the visual affect that makes landscaping so appealing. Introducing this to existing landscaping is a project that is definitely worth consulting with a professional. Having this lighting installed professionally can help you avoid some very common mistakes that detract from the landscape instead of enhancing it.

Having your landscape lighting professionally installed will open up your options more than most people realize. Professionals have a very critical eye for landscape and landscape lighting and can easily pull forth the best qualities to highlight while introducing you to your best option for your lighting.

The installation of this can be done at the time of having landscaping completed or can be added to existing landscaping. Having the lighting added to landscape as it is being completed allows the landscaper an extra margin of creativity, creating the lighting as an original part of the overall landscaping. Adding this to existing landscaping may sometimes require a few transplantations and perhaps the addition of a few extra plants, but most of the time landscape lighting can be added to existing landscaping without rearranging anything. However, if you’ve been considering making a few additions or changes to your existing landscaping, doing so while installing landscape lighting is the perfect opportunity.

Homes with landscape lighting attract more attention than homes without it. The better the landscape lighting, obviously, the more attention the homes or business will attract. Accent lighting and landscape lighting can bring forth a very different night time beauty that was previously overlooked. During the darker winter months, it can add a value of warmth to the look of the home or business, which will make it appealing and inviting. During the summer months when the landscaping is in full bloom, landscape lighting will accentuate the best and most appealing parts of your landscaping while creating a very attractive and even festive look to the home or business.

Businesses that take the time to install it are much more appealing than businesses that don’t. This additional appeal attracts clients and customers, especially those businesses which are open after dark even if for only part of the year. When a business is exceptionally appealing to clients and customers, they tend to attract regular and repeat business. Landscape lighting can be part of that attraction. There is a visual sense of calm that people associate with landscape lighting. That visual sense of calm make clients and customers feel at ease about coming inside and spending some time or money.

Homes with the lighting are more appealing as well. Whether you are considering selling a home, having family and friends over, or simply want to make your home a nicer and more comfortable environment, landscape lighting can absolutely deliver what you’re looking for. Homes which are up for sale that have landscape lighting attract more potential buyers than homes without it.

Professionally installed it can offer a home or business owner variable options to enhance the qualities they believe are the most appealing while allowing a professional landscape lighting expert to make unbiased recommendations. This ensures that your landscape lighting will be more than adequate, it will be phenomenal. Don’t choose a lighting professional carelessly. Often professional landscape lighting experts can offer you examples of their work, which in turn can give you confidence that you are hiring the very best in landscape lighting.

Having this installed in a huge home or business improvement that will have noticeable effects right away. It is highly recommended to have your landscape lighting professionally installed and professionally maintained. Professional installation of landscape lighting is easy and adds value to a home or business without much effort and no inconvenience. This adds curb appeal faster than almost any other home or business improvement.

Ken Asselin asked:


Landscape Design

Designing your own landscape, can be both exciting and challenging. If you are considering such a project, here are some practical ideas and suggestions.

Planning the Project

Planning your landscape design is the first and most important step. Take the time to gather the information you will need to make your decisions on the elements you wish to include in your landscape design. Will you want a deck, patio, foot paths, walkways, a pond? What type of plants, trees, flowers, and ground cover will you want to use? You should research books, articles, and landscape design magazines to help you make these decisions. This will pay off in the end by saving you money, time, and frustration, enabeling you end up with a beautifully finished project to be proud of.

The Design

The landscape design is your next step. You will need to make a layout of the area to be landscaped, as close to scale as possible, and with accurate measurements. Many landscape design planning guides that will give you step-by-step instructions are available on the internet for free, and books or eBooks are abundant. Once your landscape design layout is done you can began to place your elements on the layout pad. This should be your first or preliminary plan and as you progess, changes can be transfered to your secondary or updated plans. Changing your mind often is just fine. After all this is just on paper at this point and you have not spent any money or performed any labor yet. Experimenting with a few plans is necessary before you come up the final landscape design. A well planned landscape will never look the same in different seasons. Plan your landscape design to change with the seasons. You should attempt to design your landscape as maintenance free as possible.

Landscape Design Software

If it is hard for you to visualize your finished landscape design by just looking at your layout, there is some very good landscape design software available. Much of the landscape design software was originally developed for professional landscapers, but since has been modified for the beginner who wants to do-it-themselves. There are many do-it-yourslef landscape design software programs available today. Landscape design software lets you see a virtual picture of the landscape design and enables you to move items around and see the changes you make come to life. Some software allows you to import a photo of your home or building and designs the landscape around the photo. Most landscape design software programs offer advise on using and placing the many different elements available today in your landscape design. A well designed landscape will always change with time, abd some of the landscape design software available will allow you to view your landscape as it matures. You can see what it will look like 5 or 10 years from now when the trees have grown and the plants matured.

Gardens

Many people like to incorparate a garden in their landscape design. Gardens can be tucked away in the corner of an area, or be the focal point of the entire landscape design. Gardens can even be stragecly placed among the plants, flowers and trees so they blend in with the entire landscape design. If you like to garden, dont overlook all the garden design possiblities when planning your landscape design.

Jeff Halper asked:


Modernism, in the context of landscape design, is a result of forms and functions that reflect the need for outdoor living spaces that enhance contemporary lifestyles. As Garrett Eckbo, one of the central figures in modern landscape architecture, said, landscape design is the “arrangement of environments for people.”

Contemporary garden design tends to focus on scale as opposed to formal landscape designs that are based on axial relationships. It also foregoes the more classic landscape design forms and larger scale from Greek, Roman, and classical architecture traditions. This design motif became popular in the 1950’s baby boom, particularly in California where weather and lifestyle was very conducive to this innovative style.

In modern landscape design, boundaries between areas of color, textures and shapes are undefined-or conversely, sharply defined. Color and composition create the emotional response. Combining freshness and flair, these designs use dramatic geometric shapes to create a point of view that is fluid and natural. Water and light are often used, as in artfully-lit outdoor water fountains, to enhance the sensual loveliness and liveliness. The designs are arresting, both close up and far away.

Form and Function in Modern Landscape Design

As the maxim says, form follows function. Modern landscape design is an aesthetic that shows only what is necessary while often leaving surfaces exposed. The simplicity of modern design reveals itself in that every form has a function, even when that function is merely to engage the senses.

It is possible, sometimes desirable, to use modern design techniques without creating a high-tech look. That is, to make use of horizontal and vertical planes that manufacture a modern sculpture effect-and let colors and plantings evoke a warm, welcoming feel. It is that juxtaposition-hard and soft, linear and non-linear, energetic and restrained-that is the essence of modern landscape design. “Less is more” is the modern landscape design mantra. A huge plant palette is not necessary. Rather, it is how plants, materials, and textures are used and mass them together that create the contemporary effect.

The architecture of the house needs to be carefully considered when using a contemporary garden design. If the house is bold, the grounds need to be strong also.

The home and landscape can be tied together through selective use of plantings or the intelligent placement of a hardscape feature, such as an organic approach to the front door.

Using Today’s Technology in Your Modern Landscape

Naturally new technologies in building materials are a big component of modern landscape design, which can mean a new approach using old materials or a new approach using new materials. Often, it is the contrast of material usage that suggests modernism.

Concrete, with its sturdiness and malleability, has won a firm place in contemporary garden design. Its cool, gray color alone establishes its credibility. Its uses run the gamut from flooring to columns to stark, amorphous benches. In addition to concrete, advances in steel and glass technologies, plus construction methods, can be even further exploited within the modern landscape design.

Often materials, such as stone, metal, plastics, steel and glass, are left in an exposed or raw state. Part of the beauty of these materials derives from their interplay with nature-the way steel rusts to a warm, burnt look, for instance.

The Spaces of Modern Landscape Design

Landscape themes such as English, Asian, Zen gardens, natural, Japanese or modern identify not only your property but also your tastes and style. Color, form, line, scale, and texture are your means of expressing those landscape design preferences.

Your choices can be demonstrated in the plants and hardscapes you choose. Beauty can be a maple imported from Japan. It can also be the wild grass native to the Texas coastal plains. You may have outdoor works of art to display in your landscape. Or you might use a stream that ends in a waterfall as an ever-changing sculpture of sound and movement. Landscape lighting is another crucial tool of contemporary garden design as it creates ambiance and lets you enjoy your landscape night and day.

Other uses of space in contemporary designs include:

• Outdoor rooms for living. These living areas, in effect, make your home bigger. They also serve to create transition areas that connect the indoor and outdoor spaces. In this regard, this style is similar to a Mediterranean landscape design with its underlying principle that the outdoor living area should be just as enjoyable and functional as the home’s interior.

• Outdoor kitchens. The center of outdoor entertainment, outdoor kitchens provide a natural gathering place. Their design should complement both the house and the landscape. Above all, their design should be functional.

• Luxury swimming pools. When designed from a modern viewpoint, luxury swimming pools are anything but a boring rectangle or kidney-shaped pool. They become sophisticated and exciting, eye-catching and mesmerizing. Often, you can combine them with an outdoor water fountain that eliminates some redundancies while adding vitality to your overall design.

Thoroughly Modern

Modern landscape design is even more appropriate today than it was 50 years ago. Jeff Halper with Exterior Worlds says, “Contemporary garden design has gotten only better with time. With today’s busy lifestyles, there is less time for gardening. Also, we need to use our gardens for multiple functions these days-sanctuary, entertainment, a place for children to play safely. Modern landscape design addresses all these wants and needs.”

Robert Irwin, the landscape architect of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, puts it this way: “…maybe the world is an art form [and] the gardening of our universe” reveals our participation in that work of art.

Abhishek Agarwal asked:


1. Why landscaping picture?

Most often we would have a picture in our mind telling us how exquisite and different we want our landscaping to be done when compared to our neighbors. However, it would not be as easy to explain it to another person; why not a professional landscaper himself? When you go through various landscaping pictures, you get that clear-cut defining ability and you can elaborate as to what exactly you are looking for. Even if you have no notion about how the landscaping needs to be done, these pictures would give great inspirations to proceed further. Seldom do people have practical and suitable idea of landscaping when they are doing it new. So when you are choosing to renovate your landscaping activity next, ensure that you look for various pictures suiting what you have in mind.

2. Professional landscaper and landscaping pictures

Always ascertain that, however specialized is the landscaper you have chosen, at the very outset, he would show you different landscaping pictures. This would help you in knowing how the landscaper has an idea for the look of your house once the activity is completed. Such pictures would assist you in choosing the apt landscaper for having your job done as the picture they manifest would give you more information about them, such as their imagination and what work they plan to do. Consequently, always make the choice for your landscaper only after you have seen some interesting landscaping pictures.

3. Flip through the pictures

You should never forget to ask your landscaper about the different pictures of landscaping which he has done in the past. These are usually completed projects and they would give you an idea about your landscaper’s proficiency at work. Experienced and the best of landscapers usually have more than one picture of their completed projects. They would also imply that you flip through their pictures portfolio and leave your decided choice up to them. Would this not give you abundant options to choose the right professional group?

4. Make the right choice

Landscaping would bestow upon that fabulous look of your house. Therefore, you would definitely want people passing by, to mention those affirmative statements as they observe your certified landscaping. A charming garden would give you not just what you are expecting, but more! Hence choose the right landscaper for your job deciding upon his pictures and lead the sport of perfect landscaping.

Landscaping-blog asked:


Whether you plan on “borrowing ideas” or plan on creating your own landscaping design, you should have at the very least a basic understanding of the principles of landscape design.

This doesn’t mean that you have to apply every principle to every part of your plan. But just having an understanding of these principles will help you generate ideas and increase your creativity.

Great landscaping lies in the eyes of the its creator. So, while the principles of landscape design are great guidelines to follow, don’t feel like they’re the “have to rules” of landscaping. Abstract and creativity are allowed.

Unity should be one of your main goals in your design. It may be better understood and applied as consistency and repetition. Repetition creates unity  by repeating alike elements like plants, plant groups, or decor throughout the landscape. Consistency creates unity in the sense that some or all of the different elements of the landscape fit together to create a whole.

Unity can be achieved by the consistency of character of elements in the design. By character, I mean the height, size, texture, color schemes, etc. of different elements.

A good example would be in the use of accent boulders. If you’ve ever seen a landscape design that had one large white round boulder here and another large red square granite boulder there and so on, then you’ve seen that unity wasn’t created by this specific element.

This is just one example but the principle applies to all other elements such as groups of plants and materials.

A simple way to create unity in your landscape is by creating themes. And one of the simplest ways to create themes is by using a little garden decor or garden statues. Creating a theme garden is easier when it’s related to something you’re interested in or have a passion for.

If you’re into butterflies for instance, you could create a theme using plants that attract butterflies as well as using statues, ornaments, and other decor that are related to butterflies.

Unity should be expressed through at least one element in your landscape and preferably more. Using elements to express a main idea through consistent style and a specific theme is what creates harmony.

Simplicity is actually one of the principles in design and art. It’s one of the best guidelines you can follow as a beginner or do it yourselfer. Just keep things simple to begin with. You can do more later.

Simplicity in planting, for instance, would be to pick two or three colors and repeat them throughout the garden or landscape. Keeping decor to a minimum and within a specific theme as well as keeping hardscapes such as boulders consistent is also practicing simplicity.

Balance in design is just as the word implies. Equality. There are basically two types of balance in landscape design. Symmetrical and Asymmetrical.

Symmetrical balance is where there are more or less equally spaced matching elements of the garden design. With a garden equally divided, both sides could share the same shape, form, plant height, plant groupings, colors, bed shapes, theme, etc.

You may remember creating something like this when you were a kid in art class at school. Where you take a piece of paper, splash paint on it, fold it in half, unfold it, and then it magically creates an interesting symmetrical design. So symmetrical balance or design is somewhat of a mirror image or reflection.

Asymmetrical balance on the other hand is one of the principles of landscape design that’s a little more complex. While textures, forms, colors, etc. may remain constant to create some unity, shapes and hardscapes may be more random. This form of balance often has separate or different themes with each having an equal but different type of attraction.

A good example of this would be where bed shapes or paths differ on both sides of the dividing line. One side could be curvy with a sense of flow while the other side is straight, direct, and hard.

This can also create a neat contrast. Flowing lines are pleasing to the eye but the bold contrast of a curve with a straight line can be very interesting.

Asymmetrical balance isn’t necessarily limited to just the shape of your garden.

An example might be where one side of the garden is mostly large shade trees while the other side is predominately a lower growing flower garden or even a mix of both examples. This is only limited to your imagination.

Contrast and harmony can also be achieved using plants. Fine foliage verses coarser foliage, round leaves verses spiked leaves as well as color compliments and contrasts.

Plant height, color, and texture may be varied from one area to the next but each area should stay consistent within its own theme.

You’ll hear me talk about “themes” a lot. Many successful do it yourself designs follow a basic theme to achieve most of the principles of landscape design described on this page. The proper use of plants and garden decor or a mix of both is a simple way to achieve themes.



Color adds the dimension of real life and interest to the landscape. Bright colors like reds, yellows and oranges seem to advance toward you and can actually make an object seem closer to you. Cool colors like greens, blues, and pastels seem to move away from you and can make an object seem farther from you.

Grays, blacks, and whites are considered neutral colors and are best used in the background with bright colors in the foreground. However, to increase depth in a landscape, you can use dark and coarse textured plants in the foreground and use fine textured and light colored plants in the background.

Colors can also be used to direct your attention to a specific area of the garden. A bright display among cooler colors would naturally catch the eye.

Natural transition can be applied to avoid radical or abrupt changes in your landscape design. Transition is basically gradual change. It can best be illustrated in terms of plant height or color but can also be applied to all elements in the landscape including but not limited to textures, foliage shape or size, and the size and shape of different elements.

In other words transition can be achieved by the gradual, ascending or descending, arrangement of different elements with varying textures, forms, colors, or sizes.

An example of a good transition would be a stair step effect from large trees to medium trees to shrubs to bedding plants. This example is where a little knowledge of proper plant selection would come in handy.

Transition is one of the principles of landscape design that can be used to “create illusions” in the landscape. For example a transition from taller to shorter plants can give a sense of depth and distance (like in a painting), making the garden seem larger than it really is. A transition from shorter to taller plants could be used to frame a focal point to make it stand out and seem closer than it really is.

Line is of the more structural principles of landscape design. It can mostly be related to the way beds, walkways, and entryways move and flow.

Straight lines are forceful and direct while curvy lines have a more natural, gentle, flowing effect.

Proportion simply refers to the size of elements in relation to each other. Of all the principles of landscape design, this one is quite obvious but still requires a little thought and planning. Most of the elements in landscape design can be intentionally planned to meet the proper proportions.

For instance if you are creating a small courtyard garden, an enormous seven foot garden statue placed in the center would be way out of proportion and a little tacky to say the least. Or a small four foot waterfall and pond placed in the center of a large open yard would get lost in the expanse.

Don’t misunderstand this to mean that if you have a large yard you can’t have smaller features or garden decor. Proportion is relative and elements can be scaled to fit by creating different rooms in the garden. The goal is to create a pleasing relationship among the three dimensions of length, breadth, and depth or height.

A small water feature can be proportionate if placed in a corner or on the edge of a large area and becomes a focal point of the larger area while creating its own distinct atmosphere. An entire room, sitting area, or theme can be created around it. Other rooms and themes can be created as well. See small gardens for ideas on creating rooms and creating illusions.

Also, special consideration and study should be given to proper plant selection to avoid using plants that are out of proportion.

Repetition is directly related to unity. Its good to have a variety of elements and forms in the garden but repeating these elements gives variety expression.

Unity is achieved by repeating objects or elements that are alike. Too many unrelated objects can make the garden look cluttered and unplanned.

There’s a fine line here. It’s possible that too much of one element can make a garden or landscape feel uninteresting, boring and monotonous.

However, unity can still be created by using several different elements repeatedly. This in turn keeps the garden interesting.

Jeff Halper asked:


Professional landscape maintenance is the systematic growth management of the organic synergy of your property. All vegetation ultimately works together to both the foundation for and keynote elements of every traditional-style landscape. What you pay good money to install continues to develop after the landscape designer leaves, and it needs professional landscaping maintenance to grow in a healthy and aesthetically pleasing direction. If maintained professionally, vegetation on all levels will literally evolve the landscape before your very eyes. If shortcuts are taken with DIY maintenance attempts, or if vegetation care is turned over to amateurs, the landscape will lose its value.

Understanding what professional landscape maintenance truly entails will help you better make an informed decision about what to invest in, and in whom to invest your money.

Gardens

Expensive gardens require professional landscape maintenance that will ensure their continued vitality and intended aesthetic function. All share a common need for the basics of plant maintenance that include the essentials of trimming, fertilizer, and water. While these may appear at face value to be very simple tasks, they can become very complicated in direct proportion to the style of the garden and the type of plants that are growing in it.

This is due to the fact that specialty gardens may feature unusual plant species that cannot be maintained with generic methods. One species may benefit from a certain cultivation or fertilization technique, while a species growing right next to it can wither and die from the very same treatment. Investing in a professional landscaping maintenance agreement that retains the original landscaper as the “gardener on call,” so to speak, ensures that your investment in that special French garden, Italian landscape, or Renaissance-style knot garden will continue to beautify your yard beyond the first few seasons of its planting.

Parterre gardens,

Parterre gardens rely on shrubbery for border and basic form. This shrubbery has to be trimmed from the perspective of the big picture of the garden and not just the individual plant. Additionally, the gravel foundation of parterre gardens functions as a drainage system for the plant life it surrounds. This gravel has to be turned over periodically to prevent standing water from forming that can damage the plant life in the garden. Professional landscaping maintenance agreements help ensure that both the aesthetic and functional elements of the parterre garden remain true to form and viable in expression throughout the year.

Knot Gardens

Knot gardens go hand in hand with a passion for flowers and a love for herbs. The first knot gardens, in fact, were fragrant herb gardens carefully planted to mimic Elizabethan embroidery designs and pre-Roman Celtic symbols. As such, this type of garden has always relied on a blend of very diverse plant material arranged to encourage the intention of intertwining different species into a new synthesis of organic expression. Maintaining such a blend of vegetation without knowledge of each interdependent species is virtually impossible from the perspective of generic yard services. Professional landscaping maintenance is an absolute must for preserving the vitality and ensuring the continued growth of a classic knot garden or any of its many modern derivatives.

Trees

Turning amateurs lose on your trees is the equivalent of evolving your landscape in reverse. A big tree looks virtually indestructible when you stand underneath it. It is easy to assume that pruning the tree, landscaping around it, and lighting it is a simple task that anyone with a ladder, a pair of gloves, and a few basic tools can do.

This is a great way to kill a tree by cutting off too many limbs or severing a vital root. Damage to bark, as insignificant as it may seem, leaves the tree vulnerable to parasites and bacteria that can kill it with infestation and disease. Never trust people who mow lawns to sculpt the pillars of your landscape. Such people may assist in tree removal after a hurricane blows one down, but asking them to maintain the vitality of a tree often takes the tree down before the hurricane has a chance to arrive.

Instead, hire a professional landscaper for any and all tree maintenance, including installation of any garden or flower bed around the base and root system of the trunk. Never try to install tree lights yourself or let a freelance “tree lighting contractor” around your favorite oak. Let a professional landscaping maintenance contractor find you an outdoor lighting design company who will safely light the tree without damaging it.

Shrubbery

Maintaining shrubbery involves more than trimming the top of shrubs. Many shrubs are sculpted to resemble other forms and need an artistic touch beyond simple pruning. As resilient as the shrubbery itself may be to amateur attempts at maintaining it, its form and function as a design element can be significantly damaged to the point it no longer works with the landscape. Professional landscapers should always be brought in to handle any trimming that needs to be performed to maintain the appearance of garden or perimeter shrubbery. They should also be called anytime there is an anticipated hard freeze during the winter or a particularly violent windstorm brewing on the horizon. Professionals can cover your bushes and shrubs to protect them from severe elements and give them a better chance at surviving harsh weather in a form that continues to work with your landscape.

Written Agreements

Professional maintenance can be obtained from a reputable, established landscaping company anytime you recognize a need for it. However, pay as you go services can quickly add up to considerable costs if you think only of short term investment and immediate gain. Exterior Worlds is always willing to work with any client to establish a written landscaping maintenance agreement that allows the homeowner to invest in ongoing services at a reasonable price with expected intervals of service and consistently satisfactory outcomes.

printbeat asked:


The Landscape architecture Brisbane is expert in providing all types of landscaping services Brisbane. The landscapers Brisbane are expert in creating well done and specialized landscape construction Brisbane. The landscape architecture Brisbane is well-known all around the world. Nowadays, more and more people are opting for the landscaping Brisbane. Landscaping of Brisbane is a form of art which includes the patience, research and time of the landscapers of Brisbane to frame their methods in a right way. Consequently, the Landscape architecture Brisbane is considered to be a very challenging profession.

The landscaping of Brisbane adds value to your house as well as your property. It is a fact that people pay more for a house and/or property that appears fastidious and is properly maintained. Your home and belongings will have the most equities if it is a worthy market value. The landscapers of Brisbane beyond doubt do a favor on their clients by adding value to their assets and properties. The landscaping of Brisbane involves the make use of of various profound duty landscaping items and a series of essential activities that would add glamour and value to your property and asset. The Landscape architecture Brisbane has now become an inevitable task for all the individuals around the earth, who want to add appeal to their possessions.

If you do not know how to find out the best landscaping services of Brisbane, then you can use the internet. Further, you may not know the websites that offer the Landscape architecture Brisbane services online. Consequently, you can take the help of a handy search engine. There is a range of search engines available online that could be used by you. You just have to enter the appropriate key words in the search bar of the search engine and it would bestow you will a large number of websites that offer the landscaping services of Brisbane. You can refer an assortment of company websites and then come to an end. This is very helpful to you for the assessment of rates and other essential aspects of different Landscape architecture Brisbane companies. This would definitely spare your time, money and vigor for going on a look for to find out optimal landscaping services Provider Company of Brisbane.

The landscaping architecture of Brisbane is also very definite and fine-looking. The architects of Brisbane are very accomplished as well as on the ball in their field. As a result, more and more individuals round the world approach them for their landscaping purposes. With the help of their architectural skill, the landscapers of Brisbane have given aesthetic significance to a number of properties and assets. The landscaping of Brisbane is a multi-disciplinary sphere. It includes the science, art, politics, philosophy, mathematics, engineering, social sciences, history, technology etc. The gears of the Landscape architecture Brisbane are form, scale, texture, line and color. These combinations are used to create all the modern marvels that are definitely praise worthy. The principles of the landscaping of Brisbane are balance, focalization, rhythm, simplicity, repetition, proportion, transition and unity. The landscapers of Brisbane employ all these principles rationally in order to obtain the design of landscape that they have meant.

John

full color printing

A.Caxton asked:


Landscape accessories are a great way to enhance a beautiful landscape design. These accessories may not serve a practical purpose, but they can add beauty and personality to a landscaping design. Some landscape accessories do offer a practical purpose to the consumer, for example, lawn chairs, but many of the accessories only offer interest and visual appeal, rather than a functional purpose. You can do so many different things using landscape accessories and you can find so many different landscape accessories that they choices may even overwhelm you.

When you are determining what landscape accessories are best for your yard, then you need to keep in mind the whole landscaping design as well. You do not want landscaping accessories that overpower the rest of the landscaping or that take too much attention from the landscaping itself. You want something that enhances the rest of your landscaping design and blends in with the rest of the landscaping. Smaller items can usually be added to your landscaping design very easily, but larger items may need more thought put into their use and location.

You need to choose landscaping accessories that you find beautiful and interesting. Don’t just choose an item because you think that it would cause people’s eyes to be drawn to it or you may end up with an accessory that you do not like very well. Make sure that it is a landscaping accessory that is well made and durable enough to spend time outdoors in your landscaped area. Ask yourself if you would like this item if it were not in your yard and determine whether it gives you positive feelings. Choose landscaping accessories that makes you feel proud and good about your landscaping design.

Natural accessories are the simplest things to add to a landscaping design. Natural landscaping accessories work so well in the landscaping design because they look like they are a part of the yard or garden. You may even want to consider using driftwood for your landscaping design because it comes in a wide variety of colors, including white, silver, black, and brown. Another natural landscaping accessory that you can choose is rocks, stones, or boulders. By choosing natural landscaping to add to your landscape area, you will be helping to make it more relaxing and enjoyable.

You can also find a big variety of landscaping accessories that are manmade. This may include things like sculptures, outdoor chandeliers, and stained glass. You need to choose these items carefully or they may overpower your landscaping design. You can find manmade landscaping accessories that will mesh well with your natural landscape, but it is important that you make the choice carefully. Adding lights to your landscape is a great way to add interest and visual appeal. They are not necessarily for security, but they are for décor and beauty.

You can find landscaping accessories that can serve a purpose and give visual appeal to your landscape. Lawn and patio furniture is one kind of landscaping accessory that you can choose. This may include tables, umbrellas, chairs, hammocks, and/or benches. Carefully consider each piece before purchasing any accessories to make sure that it goes with your landscaping design and with your other landscaping materials. Even though it is a piece of furniture, it still needs to mesh well with your landscaping design. You may also find that planting containers, birdbaths, and bird feeders can be quite a useful landscaping accessory for your yard. These items are considered landscaping accessories because they are not a necessary component to the landscape, for example the lawn, trees, plants, etc.

The most important thing that you need to remember is to not overdo the landscaping accessories. You want them to enhance your landscaping design, rather than take away from the feel of it. Keep your lawn looking neat and tidy, rather than cluttered and ugly. If you carefully consider the choices that you make so that they beautify your yard, you will find that your satisfaction level and enjoyment level will increase substantially.